


So Help Her...

by AzureSynergy



Series: The Cure [1]
Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Angst, Clueless Ellie, Determined Dina, Dina is also a disaster but waaaay better at hiding it, Ellie is a disaster, Ellie is so fucked, F/F, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, No Spoilers, Poor ellie, and then dina fixes her, dina is the best gf ellie could ever ask for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:28:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24914647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzureSynergy/pseuds/AzureSynergy
Summary: Dina sees Ellie acting strange lately. At first she blames stress... but stress doesn't make a person have a motor seizure just for gardening.So help her, god, if Ellie is hiding something from the people that love her...
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Series: The Cure [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1807156
Comments: 6
Kudos: 173





	So Help Her...

Ellie wipes the sweat from her forehead and reaches for the hammer. She was almost done with fixing the kitchen cabinet and is thankful. Honestly her arms are starting to itch from all the sweat she worked up today and she can't wait to take a bath. 

While hammering the last nail, she hears the door open.

"Hey there, Muscles." Dina chirps and comes swinging in with a basket full of vegetables.

"And what am I supposed to call you? Short stuff?" Ellie teases with a smirk. There's only one thing she knows that gets Dina all riled up and being the tallest in Jackson wasn't it. 

As expected, Dina ruffles up as she puts the basket on the counter next to the toolbox. 

"That's not my defining feature you know." She grumbles and crosses her arms while leaning on the counter. 

"No, it would be how an entire room knows as soon as you step through the door..."

"Because I smell so bad, right?" Dina smirks when Ellie barks a laugh, disolving into snickers. 

She shakes her head, "Only because you work with manure all day." Ellie puts the hammer in the toolbox, deliberately reaching over Dina to do so. Once it dropped with a clang, Ellie wraps her arms around her girlfriend's shoulders.

Instantly Dina wraps her arms around her waist. 

"You try growing flowers all day and still smell like a rose garden." She retorts, leaning forward.

They rest foreheads together. 

Ellie scoffs. "Hmph, Miss, La-Da-Dee. Since when do you grow flowers?" Her eyes trail down to Dina's cheeks. They were smeared with mud. 

"You're right, I'm better at... plucking flowers that I am growing them..." 

Ellie looks at the way Dina's lips tilt up suggestively. Something in her lurches forward - demanding to pounce. She swallows.

"You wish you could grow them." She mumbles, leaning forward. 

Their noses touch.

"Hmm - nah - then I'd have to go through the work of finding seeds." 

She feels Dina's breath, warm, over her lips. "Yeah, who needs that drama in their life?" 

And then they're both leaning forward until their lips touch.

Ellie melts into the kiss and feels Dina tightening her hold around her. She slides closer together until she's towering over them.

Using her height advantage, Ellie tilts Dina's head, and deepens the kiss. Beneath her, Dina gasps, mouth going open. 

Just as she's about to start licking inside, her arm starts to itch. It's so irritating that she breaks the kiss and scratches, arms still around Dina's shoulders. 

"Something wrong?" Dina asks with a slight hint of annoyance.

The hands on her waist move lower until they're warming her ass cheeks. 

Oh shit.

"I-uh I..." She stammers, face growing red. This is escalating waaaay too quickly. Not that she minds. It's just - her arm... won't, ugh, stop... ITCHING. Ellie drags her nails over her tattoo repeatedly. "I... just need a shower, really bad." 

Anything to get this sticky sweatiness off her skin. 

Dina leans forward and breathes right into her ear: "Me too."

Ellie swallows the saliva in her mouth. It felt like there was suddenly so much more to swallow. 

"Well... we should save water, somehow, it's only the responsible thing to do." Ellie suggests and stops scratching - putting all her attention into Dina's eyes, which were now shining deviously.

"Oh, Miss La-Di-Dumb. Since when are you responsible?" She teased right back. 

"Ever since saving water means we shower together." Ellie steps back, breaking the chain of Dina's arms. She tilts her head towards the stairs leading to the bathroom. "You coming or what?" 

Dina smirks. "Bitch, I might be - once we're there." She throws a wink in as she walks past Ellie. 

Ellie smirks and follows her upstairs. 

* * *

"Okay so," Ellie whispers into Dina's ear where they're hidden behind some shrubbery, "you're going to follow the deer as it walks," she moves Dina's arms, the ironsights of the rifle following, "aim right below the top of the front legs, that's where the heart is."

Dina focuses on the deer as it grazes, unaware of the danger, and feels her heart race. 

"When you're all lined up, take a steady breath and squeeze."

She feels Ellie's warm hands on her shoulder, holding her steady. This isn't the first time she's had to go hunting... but it is the first time 'hunting' didn't mean 'scavenging for supplies'. Dina appreciates Ellie's touch. 

She tracks the slow movements of the deer as it bends its neck to chew on the grass. Her heart beats faster. 

Dina swallows, leans into the gun - anticipating the recoil - slides her finger onto the trigger...

The wind stirs her hair gently into her face...

Then the deer lifts its head, sniffs the air, turns - and looks Dina right in the eye. 

Dina freezes, finger millimetres away from pulling, and stares. Behind her she feels Ellie tense. She and the deer stare at eachother for what feels like forever.

She can't do it. Those eyes are so large and round, that nose so wet and twitchy, and just the thought of ending it's life - while looking it right in the eye - just seems evil. 

Dina sighs and lowers the rifle.

She hears the deer scamper deeper into the woods. 

There goes dinner. 

"I don't think hunting is my thing," she chuckes awkwardly and picks at the hem of her shirt, "besides, you're a better shot - so at least your deer die instantly." She shakes her head and looks at the ground. "I don't want to make the poor thing suffer by flabbing my aim."

She waits for Ellie to say something, and is met with tense silence.

"Ellie?" Dina looks around, unused to the silence. Was she upset about losing the deer? It wasn't even mid day yet, so they still have time to track something else down, so then why...

Dina frowns in confusion once seeing her girlfriend, eyes focused on the spot the deer had been, body tense, unblinking. A moment went by where neither of them moves.

She keeps staring at Ellie, thinking she was just lost in thought and needed a moment to think. Was she mentally tracking routes the deer could have taken? With how well Ellie knew every stick and boulder around here, it must be easy. 

"Hey," Dina pokes Ellie between her eyebrows. _That_ gets a reaction. 

Ellie snaps her teeth up, aiming nowhere in particular, and Dina startles as she rips her hand away in time to avoid being chomped.

"What the fuck?" She breathes, eyes wide, and watches as Ellie blinks. Clarity seems to flow into her eyes and she shakes her head once. 

"Woah." Ellie mutters. 

They sit there, Dina holding the gun with one hand while the other goes up to press against Ellie's forehead. She hums and removes the contact.

"We should head back, you've got a bit of a fever there, Hon." She stands up and offers her hand. 

Ellie takes it and is pulled to her feet. She sways a little. Dina rests a steadying palm on her bicep. 

(Okay maybe she just wanted to feel Ellie's muscles, and damn, was she strong.)

They're about a mile from the settlement when Ellie finally speaks.

"You think Joel might have some steak or something? I really want to sink my teeth into something meaty." 

Dina scoffs and gives her a playful sideways glare. 

"Is that your 'oh-so-subtle' way of telling me I should have just pulled the trigger?" 

Ellie shrugs so dramatically that is borders on comical. "Well, we _do_ have a bullet shortage, so it's better that you didn't." 

Dina laughs and shoves Ellie's shoulder. "If you're so hungry, how about a knuckle sandwich?" She smacks her fist into her own palm with a "fwap". 

Ellie rolls her eyes and steps over a pile of concrete. "That's such a fresh and hip thing to say... for someone from the 2000's." 

Dina gasps, and rests a hand over her heart. "Are you callin' me _old_?"

Ellie pulls her mouth an odd way and tilts her head, arms going out to the sides. "If the false teeth fit." 

"Oh it's _on_." Dina rushes forward, surprising Ellie by tossing her the rifle, and sprints off. 

Behind her she hears her girlfriend's indignant squaking as she fumbles with the gun. 

"Who's old now, slowpoke?" She shouts into the wind.

They race the last mile home with smiles. 

* * *

Ellie sits. 

The curtains are drawn but the mid afternoon sun shines through. Outside she can hear people going on with their day. Walking by the house. Carrying things. Telling boring stories. Occasional laughter. Very occasional laughter. 

Her hands are fisted on her knees.

Another lance of pain strikes through her head, her fists clench knuckle white. Ellie breathes through it. 

Her eyes are closed.

Just an hour or two then Dina will get back from the Sharecropper farms. Ellie focuses on thinking about that. She thinks about Dina walking in, taking off her muddy boots, face and arms smeared with soil. Face red from the sun. Hair sweaty. 

Her fists uncurl. 

Dina will walk into the kitchen and greet her with a kiss, a lingering touch on her neck, then start talking about her day while making tea. After pouring each a cup, she'll ask Ellie how her day was.

Her ears sing with pain.

 _'It was fine,'_ she'll reply and take a sip, savouring the taste of fresh picked tea leaves.

_'Joel just freaked when some Clickers ambushed us. Yelled at me to keep a better look out. Like it was my fucking fault those fuckers didn't make a noice. What type of Clickers don't click?!'_

Dina will laugh, to ease the tension, then put her hand on her thigh and say something that will make her feel better. And then Ellie will...

Holy shit she can't take it anymore.

Ellie grabs her head and stands up. The urge to hit her head against the wall surges so suddenly, she doesn't fight. 

In a blink she is in the kitchen slamming the right side of her temple against the concrete loadbearing pillar. 

Over again - _thump, thump, thump_ \- her head swiveles back and forth. Colours burst behind her closed eyelids. 

She doesn't hit hard enough to split skin. What she is doing works just fine. Soon enough the pressure in her head dulls and her thumping slows down.

Ellie slumps against the wall and slides down, lazilly thumping her head every now and then. She sighs and closes her eyes. Already she feels better than she has the entire day. 

Later when Dina arrives, they follow routine. After the tea is poured, Ellie begins:

 _'It was fine,'_ Sip, _'Joel's making me train more because of my slip up. Fucking Clickers. What Clickers don't click?!'_

* * *

Dina makes it her mission to finish faster with her duties. Ellie's been acting weird these days and she's affraid of leaving her alone for too long. Call her overprotective, but she'd rather be there if her girlfriend needs her than to come home and see her dead on the floor.

She brings it up with Joel one night while washing dishes together, Ellie up the stairs taking a shower. 

"Well she does seem distracted on patrols. Keeps staring off for no reason an' all that." Joel assessed.

"The other day I walked in and saw Ellie biting a pillow, moving her head side to side like she was trying to rip the thing apart. She didn't even hear me come in." Dina whispers, hand limp in the soapy water around a plate.

Joel stares at her, alarmed. Yeah. When she saw what Ellie was doing, she had made the same expression.

"I ain't seen her handle stress like that before." He grumbles and takes the dripping plate from Dina and starts drying it.

"You think that's it? Stress?" Dina doesn't like the way her voice sounds hopeful.

Joel shrugs and puts the plate in the cabinet Ellie fixed two weeks ago.

"Summer's almost over, so we'll be havin' to store some food for when it starts snowin'. Among huntin' and patrollin', I think the colder seasons just bring up bad memories, is all."

She doesn't miss the way his hand goes to his lower stomach as his eyes glaze into the past. 

Yeah. Dina remembers Ellie whispering the story to her while curled up together one night. She spoke so softly and her hand held on so tightly to her shirt, that Dina thought she might rip it. 

Ellie was so afraid of losing Joel that that experience still haunts her.

"I suppose I'll just have to find a way to ease her worries then." And Dina gives a determined smile while handing Joel the last plate and unplugging the drain. 

* * *

Ellie can't stop daydreaming.

She uses her foot to push the pitchfork deeper into the ground. Dina was over by the garden watering the patch of spinach and tomatoes. 

Ellie keeps thinking about hunting. What it would feel like to take off her shoes. To run through the forest so fast the world becomes a watercolour painting. To put her nose to the wind and scent her prey. How her heart would beat as she tracks it down stealthily. Eyes never leaving that soft part of the neck. Thinks about lunging, digging her nails in to hold it still as she _bites._

_As she bites and moves her head viciously to rip apart flesh. The taste of blood in her mouth. Coppery blood that'll take away the taste of bitter saliva. Swallow the meat whole to bite again. Clench her jaw tight. How satisfying it would feel to finally have her teeth chomp down, like she hasn't felt complete until that moment and-_

Ellie feels her legs go numb. 

She's confused when she hears a strange noise. Is that a Clicker? Before realising she was the one making it. Ellie blinks as she sways, a sudden dizziness overcoming her. 

Next thing she knows her back is digging into a rock and is convulsing on the ground. Her eyes are wide open, her mouth fills with spit that drools down her cheek. 

She hears a yell, but can't process what she's seeing. What's happening? 

Her body feels all wrong and she can't stop shaking. It feels like her muscles are pulling tight and loosening and she's just along for the ride.

Ellie wants to speak. She wants to yell for Dina, because she doesn't know what's going on and why can't she move her arms, please get this spit out of her mouth, she can't breathe, can't roll over, and she's _scared_.

Then there are hands on her sides rolling her over and Ellie is so _relieved_ when the saliva trails down her face, because she can _breathe_ and she doesn't even care about how fucking disgusting it is, because she can _breathe._

She thinks it's Dina's hands that are lifting her leg up against her chest while manoeuvring the other one straight. It has to be Dina - she has first aid training and everything and... Ellie wonders what she's doing on the ground. 

Okay, fucking disgusting - she was drooling all over herself - and why can't she move? What was going on?

"Ellie, hon? Can you hear me?" 

Oh. That's Dina. She is talking. Dina is talking. 

Why does Ellie's body feel on fire? 

Her head starts pounding and that sensation feels so _familiar_ that she knows instinctively what to do. Ellie can't control herself when she starts slamming the side of her head against the ground.

She doesn't feel the way the soil sticks to her face and turns to mud from her saliva. Doesn't feel desperate hands trying to hold her still. Doesn't feel when Dina's tears land on her face. 

All the feels is the satisfaction of banging her head, because that makes the pain go away.

"No, no, no - don't do that, Ellie, please. I'm here. I'm here." 

And then her blows are being cushioned by Dina's lap, and Ellie feels so frustrated that she could scream. But her vocal cords don't cooperate.

Time goes by, how much, Ellie isn't sure. 

One moment she can't stop twitching and the next she's a limp noodle on Dina's lap, dragging in haggard breaths and shaking from the aftershock.

Her limbs begin to tingle as feeling crawls back. She feels cold and drained. Even if she wanted to, Ellie doesn't get up. 

At some point she feels Dina's hands rubbing her back - carding through her hair. Ellie thinks she's rocking back and forth. 

"Ellie?" Dina asks with a crack in her voice and it breaks Ellie's heart. She did that. She made her upset. Unintentionally, but still...

She swallows, hates how her saliva tastes like some disgusting hospital medicine, and tries to speak. The words don't come and her voice won't work. Her lips open and close like a drowning fish. 

"Ellie what's... I'm taking you to the clinic." Dina sounds final. Determined, horrified, terrified. 

Ellie hates the clinic so much. Hates the doctors, the smells, the memories they bring up. But with not a lick of strength in her limbs, she submits. 

She submits because she loves Dina and doesn't want to see her so afraid again.

* * *

Joel is there five minutes after Dina called him. He walks in to find Ellie wrapped in a blanket and laying on the couch. She was staring at the wall, head twitching to the side every now and then. 

"What happened?" He turns to Dina for answers. 

She pulls her shoulders back. Deep breath, be strong. For Ellie.

"I don't know." She replies evenly, watching as he moves to kneel in front of her girlfriend.

Joel reaches a hand up to touch her forehead. 

"Don't-" Dina takes a rushed step forward, heart rate spiking. She remembers what happened last time when trying to see if Ellie was sick...

Luckily, he is quick on the uptake and freezes. 

She lets out a breath. Dina feels her hands shake and she clenches them. She feels cold.

Joel stares at her with a calculating look. 

Dina's not as familiar as Ellie is with Joel's expressions. He might be thinking about sending her away. Or about taking Ellie and leaving. 

She isn't sure why she's so paranoid, but her instincts tell her Joel is going into overprotective father mode. He's real unpredictable when he gets like that.

"Listen real careful, now," Joel keeps his voice level and maintains intense eye contact, "you're gonna tell me - exactly - what Ellie told you about her tattoo." 

Dina can't decipher his hidden intentions from behind that closed face he was throwing her way. 

"This isn't the time to-" But she was cut off, harshly.

"TELL ME RIGHT NOW!" Joel moves fast as he stands up and gets into her face. 

She takes a breath to steady herself after the adrenaline spike. Dina's never seen him like this and it scares her more than she will ever let on.

"Fuck you, man! Ellie needs a doctor and you're focussing on her _ink_?! No wonder she didn't tell me she was sick! She probably got into the habit of avoiding her health from you! Now either help me carry her to the clinic or I'm calling Jessy."

At the end of her screaming match, she glares at Joel. No matter how much Ellie cares for him, he's not number one on her priority list. 

She watches him take a step back and drag his hand over his grey beard. He closes his eyes and looks sideways, shaking his head. Dina watches him wage his internal war in silence, breathing heavily. 

"You..." he takes another deep breath, then opens his eyes, "we can't take her to the clinic." 

Dina blinks a few times. Did she hear him right? 

"You best speak straight with me right this second, Joel." Her voice parrots his serious one from earlier. He of all people should be invested in Ellie's health, so why can't they take her to the doctors?

Ellie moans on the sofa and squirms under the blanket.

They both move at the same time, but Dina's youth gets her to Ellie first. She sits on the edge of the couch and reaches over with caution. When Ellie doesn't snap her teeth at her she rests her palm on her hair.

"What's going on, love?" Dina feels a lump push into her throat. Ellie hasn't responded since her seizure in the backyard. Seeing her so docile and absent was devastating. 

"Hey there, baby girl." Joel moves to stand at her head and squats. She hears his bones pop with the action. "Don't you worry about a thing, you hear, we'll handle it."

She wonders what he means with "handle it", because so far his plan was to not do a thing...

And then, lightning stikes her and Dina's body tingles with realisation. Ellie was out with Joel the other day... the Clicker attack... oh God.

Dina takes a slow, but sudden, breath. When she breathes out it sounds like rattling. 

_'No, God, please - please **no**_.' 

She swallows, feels her eyes begin to burn, and pushes the sting back.

_'No, that ain't right. That was a week ago. The virus takes over in a day or two. So - so it can still be something else. It has to be. It could - it could be a tumour or somethin'... or - or-'_

Her mind scrambles for excuses.

"Fireflies," Ellie mutters, the words slow to form, she twitches, head tweaking to the side and shoulder plucking up, "should have... let them..." And then her eyes are fluttering and she slips into sleep. 

Joel shakes her shoulder relentlessly until her eyes open again.

Dina wants to shank him. Let Ellie rest, she needs it. 

"Kiddo, we can't do that." He glances over at Dina, debating something. 

He knows. Of course he does. 

Once again Dina is the one out of the loop. She doesn't know who to blame. Ellie for keeping secrets? Joel for encouraging her to keep secrets? Herself for not noticing the signs sooner? It's all just so messed up and she can't stop her mind from racing. 

"Hmm," Ellie moans and turns to lie on her stomach, "is my bite... can feel... some'ing... it's... wrong." Her arm shakes as she brings it forward. It drops limp and hangs off the edge. 

Dina scoots closer and takes her love's hand. She traces the lines of the tattoo with narrowed eyes. It wasn't necessary. Smack in the middle of her arm was a rash, that started making blisters. 

"Shit." Joel breathes at the same time Dina takes a startled gasp. 

Beneath the blisters, clear as the light of day, are indents. Teeth marks. Human teeth marks. Infected.

Infected?

That's not possible. Ellie's had this tattoo for more than a year. And it is obviously covering up the wound, so the bite is older. What is going _on_?!

"She was bit at 13." Joel drops the bomb. Dina can only listen. "She ain't infected... at least... I thought so, but now..." his eyes gleam with moisture as he glances at her. 

But now something's changed.

And it all makes sense. Why he won't take her to see the medics. Why Ellie's been so weird the past few weeks. 

Ellie's been infected, and now her time has come. 

Dina doesn't know what's worse. She doesn't. All the shit just keeps piling up. 

"We have to do something! We can't just leave her like this." Dina's voice rises as her heart beats faster. Ellie... her love, she was infected. She was _sick._ And taking her to the clinic was as good as putting a bullet-

No. No. 

Dina won't let that happen. Never. She'll kill anyone who tries to hurt what's hers. She just has to...

She stands up and moves to the hallway cupboard to get a bag. Dina feels Joel's eyes on her as she rushes around and stuffs canned food into the duffel.

"What're you doin'?" He sounds tired.

"Getting us outa here. Those town folks," she vaguely points to the outside, "are more concerned with their safety than Ellie's. Especially when they find out she's... when they find out."

"And what, exactly, is your plan? You skip town with Ellie and then what?"

Dina stuffs one of Ellie's flannels in and moves up the stairs. She hears Joel follow. 

"I'll go find the fireflies, they have equipment and-"

"Not a chance in hell." Joel steps in front of her, blocking her path to the bathroom, and shoves her shoulder to make her stop. 

"And why the fuck not?!" She screams and makes to move past him. He shoves her again - harder - and she stumbles a step back. 

"Because they'll kill her too!" He doesn't scream, but his voice gets louder and final. 

"They're the most dedicated to finding a cure! I hear people talking all the time, and they say they came so close to finding one a couple of years ago but-" 

"-they suddenly hit a snag because they... what do they call it? Oh yeah: _'ran out of resources'_. Sound about right?"

Dina pauses with a frown. 

"Why do you sound so sarcastic?" She asks reproachfully. Joel scoffs and shakes his head.

"Because," he starts slowly, "Ellie _was_ their 'resource'. They wanted to butcher her like some kind of science experiment, cut out her brain, an' use that for the cure." He sounds as tired as he looks.

The bag drops from her fingers onto the carpet. Dina feels her shoulders sag and her stomach drop. 

"They..." she breathes shakily, trying desperately to keep the tears at bay. She can't break now. She still hasn't found a solution. They were her only hope, she wanted to say. 

Joel wraps his arms around her and pulls her in. She shakes, silently, and hates him. Why did he have to think so logically? She hates him because... because...

"I'm sorry, Dina."

She breaks free and shoves the old man, too afraid she'll cry if he comforts her. 

"Don't be sorry. Just tell me what we do now." Dina forces her voice to sound annoyed instead of resigned. 

Joel picks up the duffel with a grunt and swings it over his shoulder. 

"We keep going. One day. Two. A week. A month. However long it takes - we keep going."

"We do nothing?!" Dina hopes he hears her disgust at the plan. 

"Not nothing. We'll help Ellie. You make sure all," he waves his hand at his forearm then gestures down the stairs, "this stays quiet. In the mean time I'll talk to Tommy. He'll know some people who are discreet."

"To get a cure?" This time she keeps her face neutral, weary against hope. 

Joel nods and turns to walk away. 

Okay. Keep going. Just. Keep going for however long it takes. She can do that. For Ellie.

* * *


End file.
